Beastly Within
by Arunei
Summary: The gang's sent to kill some strange creature, but then something happens to rinoa! RinoaxSquallxQuistis, ZellxHis Gloves, Rated for possible swearing and blood
1. The New Mission

Underneath Esthar

Brief Outline:

This story is about what's under the surface of the monster swarmed area of Esthar. This story takes place a month after the gang defeats Ultimecia.

Disclaimer

I, in no way own Final Fantasy 8, Square Enix, the characters of FF8, or anything legally related to it. Please don't sue me, as I have no pocket money. ;;

To all my dear readers, please enjoy the story! Also, be warned that there may be major spoilers about the characters relationships with each other. You've been warned!

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"Beep Beep!" went the phone at Balamb Garden. Squall Leonhart, the new secretary, picked up the phone.

"Balamb Garden Main Desk. Squall speaking, how may I serve you?" Squall politely asked in his too-good-to-be-true-voice.

"Hey son! How's it going?" Came the happy voice of Laguna Loire.

"Hi dad." Squall replied in a sullen voice. "I'm not coming to play Go Fish with you anymore okay?"

"You aren't? Crap. Anyways, there's been a strange sudden uprising of monsters here at Esthar, I need your help to kill them all; and since you're my loving son, you'll do this for free right?"

"In your dreams you poor man. This'll cost you….say about 10,000 gil?"

The other end of the line clicked. Laguna had hung up. Squall rolled his eyes, and re-dialed the number to his father's office.

"Fine! I'll bring the gang and we'll do it for free! Sheesh, you're such a cheapskate!" Squall angrily yelled to the phone.

"I need the gil to buy my lava lamps! I got like two hundred of them now! They look pretty awesome." Said Laguna proudly "You should come sometime!"

"Uh…how about no?" Squall hung up. He rolled on his wheelie chair to the P.A intercom. He pressed the red announce button and announced, "Will Zell Dincht, Rinoa Heartily, Irvine Kinneas, and Selphie Tilmitt please report to the Front Gate in about ten minutes? I repeat. Will Zell Dincht, Rinoa Heartily, Irvine Kinneas, and Selphie Tilmitt please report to the Front Gate in about ten minutes? Thank you for your undivided attention."

Squall sighed. He didn't want to see Quisitis Trepe so soon after she found out that he was with Rinoa for good. He always avoided her gaze during class and was the first out of the classroom. Maybe she'll get over it, thought Squall. He went down the elevator to the first floor, grabbed his Lionheart gunblade from his dormitory, and headed to the front gate.

Squall found them by the parking lot exit. Zell was caressing his red-plated combat gloves as usual, Irvine was cuddling with Selphie as usual, and Rinoa was nowhere to be found.

"What's the mission about Squall?" asked Zell without looking at him. "Which bastard are we going to kill now?"

"Does it include shopping? I liked shopping at Deling City." Exclaimed Selphie.

"I need to buy some more aura stones to kick some ass. Squall, you're loaded, get me some." Irvine said in a sweet voice.

"This time, we're going to go to Esthar to kick some monster ass for my dad. And he's making us do it for free….God, he's a cheapskate. Yes Selphie, we're taking the Ragnarok there so I guess there's no stopping you from shopping, and Irvine, if you didn't spend all your money on girls and Selphie, you'd have the gil to buy your own aura stones." Explained Squall.

"You're, you're going out with another girl?" shouted Selphie in disgust. She gave him a hard slap.

"I gave you the best gift Selphie! I gave the other ones cards saying, "Selphie's my world, not you!" It's just that I spent a lot of money on their cards!"

"Shut up Irvine. Guys, where's Rinoa?"

"Rinoa? I think she's still in her room, not sure if she heard the announcement." Piped Zell.

"Thanks Zell, I'll go grab her, you people stay here for awhile longer."

Squall sprinted back up to the Garden, spraying his pocket cologne at the same time. Slick. He arrived at Rinoa's dorm. Her door was unlocked and opened. He couldn't resist. He quietly peeked inside.

What he saw was quite a shock.


	2. Three Way Triangle

There were thongs, thousands of them, all littered on the floor of Rinoa's dorm. Squall drooled and wet his pants.

"Ah!" Screamed Rinoa. She picked up a lone shoe on the floor and threw it at Squall. "Isn't there any privacy around here?"

Squall snatched a bra and ran out of the room. "I'll be waiting outside!" he called. He quickly ran to his dorm to change pants, still clutching the stolen bra.

Rinoa sighed, why did Squall always have to do this? Now that she thought of it, why couldn't she just lock the door? Well, Squall would probably peek through the bottom crack. That pervert, when will he ever grow up? She picked up her blue dress and slipped it over herself over her white bra. Ooh, soft. She thought.

Squall was waiting outside for her. He was holding something pink. As she walked closer, she saw that Squall was holding a bra. Her bra! "Squall! Argh! Stop doing this!" She stole the bra from him and chucked it back in back in her room, this time locking the door. "I need to buy a leash for you! Jeez!"

Squall put on his sad dog face, "I'm sorry Rinoa."

"Oh shut up, you. We'll discuss this later."

They paused for a moment and looked at each other, and then they burst out laughing.

"I was so close this time!" exclaimed Squall.

"Not close enough!"

They held hands and skipped through the dormitory hall back to the front gate. On their way they saw a door open on the left. Out came Quistis in her new instructor uniform. She looked at them with a hard eye. She made but one sound before storming off to her classroom. "Humph."

Rinoa shrugged, "Her loss." She smiled and gave Squall a quick bear hug.

They arrived at the front gate, and everyone was still in the same place. Irvine was trying to make up to Selphie for two-timing her, and Zell was still caressing his gloves. Rinoa looked disgusted.

"Zell, stop that. You need to get a real girlfriend. Just make sure you don't get dumped again by people like the pig-tailed girl in the library."

Zell just snarled and whispered to his gloves, "Mm, I still love you, don't listen to what icky Rinoa says."

Rinoa sighed. "Where are we going?"

Selphie jumped up, "Ooh, ooh I know! Can I tell her Squall? Can I? Can I? Please! I'll polish your gunblade, I'll shine your shoes, and I'll buy you potions! Just let me tell Rinoa!"

"Selphie." Squall said slowly, "Breathe in. Breathe out. Now tell her."

"Oh my god! YES! I get to tell Rinoa!" Selphie gave a little dance. Irvine chuckled from the ground looking up. "Okay Rinoa, we've been called by Laguna to kill the strange high amount of monsters on the lands of Esthar, and we're doing it for free. We're taking the Ragnarok there and…and…I want to say more, but that's all I remember. Oh my god, I. Must. Talk! Need a topic to talk about!" Selphie was panting from not taking a single breath during her small speech.

"Selphie." Rinoa, "Now you're just acting ditzy.

"Your hair is so cool! It's shiny"

"Uh… thanks Selphie. Now stop talking and Squall can lead us to the Ragnarok.

The group followed Squall to the 2nd Floor Exit of the garden, ran through Fisherman's Horizon and boarded the Ragnarok near the Mayor's House. As they neared the ship, a booming voice called out,

"So you thought you could leave without me?" Quistis boomed, "You're leaving your instructor who taught you everything? I thought we were _very good _friends! I can pull my weight in battles!" She glared at Rinoa, who glared back defiantly, "And you Rinoa! You're not even a Seed! What can you hope to accomplish here?"

Rinoa stepped up and fired back, "Well, why were you stripped of your instructor rank a few months ago? Slacker! I can _so_ pull my weight in battle! Who's the sorceress here?"

"I've got half a mind to kill you right here, you damned sorceress. After all, Seeds are trained to kill the sorceress" Quistis brought out her whip.

"And I've got half a mind to kill you slacker!" Using her powers, Rinoa extended her nails to a long 4 inches

"That won't be necessary." Squall stepped in between them. "No killing on this mission okay? I'll treat you girls to some coolers later.

"Pft. Whatever. Fine Rinoa. How about we have a contest? The one who kills the most monsters at Esthar gets to go out with Squall tonight."

"Fine by me, you bastard. I'll surely win."

Squall was curious. "Quistis, how did you know we were going on a mission?"

"Hah, it was easy. After I saw you in the dormitory halls I went to your room and saw that you created the whole mission using Play-Doh. It was on your bedside table."

"Haha…Crap. You didn't see that."

"Maybe I didn't if we go out on a date. Oh yeah, I also found this in your room. I'm shocked that you made a shrine for this, but I'd be happy to give you lots if you went out with me tonight." Quistis held up a pink bra with an angel wing design on it.

"Ooh, you're good Squall." Rinoa snatched the bra and pocketed it. "Now let's all shut up and go dammit! Oh and don't worry Quisits, I'll make sure that I kill the most monsters at Esthar.

"Oh really? But I've got a secret weapon that will _force_ Squall to go out with me tonight?

"Oh really?" Rinoa was really worried now.

Squall was really wide eyed now.

Selphie and Irvine were still trying to make up.

Zell was still hugging his gloves.


	3. First Encounter

Zell, Selphie and Irvine filed onto the Ragnarok.

"So Squall," Quistis began, "remember what kind of underpants you wore on that day? You know…the teddy bear ones holding strawberries?" (Blah who cares what day it was, days are days)

Squall made a shifty-eyed face.

"I suppose I'll be seeing you tonight at about 8:00PM Squall?"

"Yes ma'am."

Quistis boarded the Ragnarok.

Rinoa was appalled. "Damn that woman, blackmailing Squall! You're not going to go tonight are you Squall?"

"I don't think I have a choice Rinoa." He hugged her. "Say, let's go to your room and hang out."

"That's fine by me."

They walked together to Rinoa's stateroom. Yes, the Ragnarok now has staterooms because I SAID SO! Anyways…

Rinoa's stateroom looked just like her dorm at Balamb Garden. Thongs. Everywhere. And the average bra here and there. Squall mouth flew open as usual.

"Stop drooling Squall." Said an annoyed Rinoa.

The two lovers sat on the sofa and cuddled. How long they cuddled? Who knows, but it was enough so that they fell asleep on each other. Time was still until the announcement came.

"Beep beep!" went the intercom, "Everyone prepare for landing. We have arrived in Esthar!" Selphie's voice was as cheerful as ever.

"That was fun, we should do it again Squall."

"Yeah..." Squall couldn't help thinking about Quistis and her feelings. He snatched one of Rinoa's bras and hid it under his shirt. Ooh soft he thought.

They walked hand-in-hand to the exit of the Ragnarok. Everyone had already left.

"Oh shit, they're gone!" Squall exclaimed.

"Don't worry; I can teleport us there with my powers." Rinoa reminded Squall.

"Oh yeah. Phew."

"Hold on."

A circle of red light circled them, the circle flashed, and poof they disappeared and re-appeared in what looked like a swimsuit store.

"Huh? Why are we here?"

The changing room door went 'click' and out came Selphie baring a lot of skin.

Squall drooled and was rewarded with a slap on the cheek by Rinoa.

"Hands off Squall, She's with me 'cause I'M payin'." Irvine winked.

"Eep Squall's here!" Selphie covered her body with her arms and hid behind Irvine.

"You guys know where Zell and Quistis are?" Squall asked.

"Oh. They went to the Great Plains of Esthar to kill some monsters." Irvine told Squall.

"Alright thanks."

"Let's teleport; hold me." Rinoa told Squall and they were off.

They appeared in the battle with a Torama and saw that both Zell and Quistis were KO'd.

Squall gasped. "Holy crap! How did they lose to a Torama?" He whipped out his gunblade out of his pockets. Pockets are amazing aren't they? They hold all sorts of sharp things in there!

Moving on…

Rinoa chucked an aura stone in the air, and Squall magically turned golden. Not a very good tan though. Squall jumped at the Torama and gave it a quick 8 slashes, and then another 22 slashes, totally overkilling it.

After the battle, Squall used two phoenix downs on Zell and Quistis and gave them Elixirs.

"What were you doing? You should've whooped that monster!" Squall yelled at Zell.

"We forgot the junctions man!" Zell was nursing his wounded gloves. Quistis didn't say anything and just had her back to Squall and Rinoa.

Squall's new cellphone rang. He was getting a call from Irvine.

"Hello?"

"Yo Squall! We got a major problem here! Monsters are all over the city! We need your help to clear 'em out! Get here PRONTO!" The phone clicked. Squall hung up.

"Guys, we've got to get back to Esthar! Monsters are everywhere! Warp back! Rinoa!"

"I'm on it."

Everyone nodded and held hands with each other.


	4. The Book

The gang teleported to the main shopping area of Esthar. Iron Giants, Mesmerizes, Marlboros, Toramas, Imps and all kinds of other monsters were bounding through the archways. Stores were trampled by the monsters. Benches and streetlamps were being sliced in half. Citizens were falling ill to the toxic Marlboro poisons. Squall took charge.

"All right everyone! Remember to equip your Guardian Forces and to junction to your status defenses. Those Marlboros are annoying as hell. Move out!"

Selphie and Irvine headed to clear out the Air Station. Rinoa teleported to Odine's Laboratory. Squall ran to the President's Office. Quistis and Zell prepared to clear out the monsters in the shopping area.

"Ready?" Zell asked, getting into his battle stance.

"More than ever." Quistis grinned.

Zell jumped up and launched a flurry of Meteor Barrets, clearing out all the small monsters while defending Quistis was charging up her Shockwave Pulsar limit break.

Quistis unleashed her Shockwave Pulsar limit break, annihilating all the monsters, but not the buildings! It's such common knowledge that buildings and monuments will never be affected by Shockwave Pulsar no matter how many times you initiate it!

Back to the story…

"Get ready Zell. More may be coming." Quistis snapped her Save the Queen.

"I got it, Instructor." Zell rubbed his Ergheiz gloves together. This was all serious business now.

Off in another corner of Esthar…

Selphie and Irvine were fending off the flying monsters coming in from the Air Station. Selphie was firing Meteor spells by the second. Irvine was trying to be cool by firing his gun while doing flips and summersaults in the air. He got off to a bad jump, screwed up and landed on his head.

"Idiot! What the hell! Stop showing off! This isn't the time!" Selphie shouted through the noise.

A swarm of monsters were making their way to the unconscious Irvine.

"Not on my watch! The End!" Selphie unleashed her ultimate technique, sending the monsters to a garden of flowers.

She ran to him. "Irvine! Irvine!" she cried. Irvine moaned loudly.

"Too…pro…for me…" he whispered. "Damn! My arm, I think I bruised it."

"Bruised eh?" His whole sleeve was soaked with blood. "Stop trying to act so cool Irvine! I love you! You can't die yet!" Selphie managed through choked sobs.

Irvine managed to stand up. "Don't…worry...baby, we've…got to meet up with the…others…" he fell back into Selphie's tear wet arms.

Selphie waited for the tears to stop coming down. She had to be strong. And she knew the right thing to do now would be to take Irvine back to the Ragnarok. She got out her cellphone and dialed Squall.

"Hello?"

"Squall! I've….I've got to take Irvine back to the airship."

"Selphie? Are you crying?"

"I won't be able to continue with the mission…Sorry."

"Something's happened to Irvine? I understand. Stay strong for him Selphie! I'm counting on you!"

"Thanks Squall, we'll be seeing you later." Selphie hang up.

Squall was worried. They were all very strong people. If the monsters could hurt Irvine so bad they'd better be careful. He was almost at the President's Office. A red geezard jumped out at him.

"Out of my way you weak bastard!" He roared and swung his gunblade. The geezard received an oozing wound making it red even more. But it wasn't dead yet. "What the hell? You should be dead! No matter, you'll be dead now!" Squall cast zombie on the Geezard and followed up with a Phoenix Down. The Geezard was no more. He reached the entrance to the President's Office. He burst through and was greeted with a shower of bullets. He barely managed to dodge them. "Holy crap old man! What are you trying to pull?" He heard a whimpering behind the President's desk. He looked in it, and there he was in all his glory, Laguna Loire.

"It was my bad! Sorry!" Laguna flashed the peace sign to Squall.

"Watch where you're aiming you bastard!" Squall was getting angry with this guy.

"…………"

Kiros stepped forward from his hiding spot. "Ward's trying to say that you should forgive him. Laguna's been edgy for the past couple of weeks."

"Kiros is right! He's a man of great wisdom! You should pay more attention to him son!"

"Eff you dad. No offense to you Uncle Kiros."

"Well, your dad IS a klutz I'll have to admit. Let me tell you about the peanut butter and jam situa-"

"Whoa! That won't be necessary thank you very much Kiros! Anyways, Squall; where are the others?"

"They're busy clearing the city of the monsters. I'm so nice I came to protect you!"

"What are you talking about? I've got my handy machine gun!"

"Have you gotten your glasses yet?"

"Well…no."

"Just awesome, you'll surely be able to hit the monsters," Squall jeered in a sarcastic tone.

"Well aren't YOU the happy man." Laguna teased back.

Through all their quarrelling they didn't hear the scream from Odine's Laboratory.

Let's take a pause from Laguna and Squall's quarrel and have a check on Rinoa.

Rinoa appeared in the laboratory and was immediately swarmed by a bunch of monsters. She used her Angel Wind limit break and fired her buffed up Meteor spell in all directions possible. She had to find Doctor Odine. She flew through the laboratory until she reached the main central control room. "Doctor Odine! Where are you!" she called out as she went back to her original form.

"Ugh…" a voice came from under the control desk.

"Doctor Odine!" She discovered him. She looked at the book he was holding. The title read, "Beneath Esthar: A Beast Within?"

"Argh my head…feeling….tired…ugh." Odine fell unconscious, dropping the book on the ground.

Moving back to Zell and Quistis…

Zell and Quistis were like the perfect team. They were taking names and kickin' ass. Blood was all over the ground of the shopping area. Unfortunately, they were getting tired, and when that happens, Quistis can't concentrate on her Blue Magic, and Zell's punches don't do as much damage.

An Iron Giant loomed over them. It swung its mighty sword. Zell leapt at it and punched it. Not too much damage. Quistis smacked it with her whip. But she was too tired and she fell to the ground.

"Quistis!" Zell gasped. The Iron Giant stomped over to her and swung. Blood spurted everywhere, but not out of Quistis.

"Zell…!" she groaned. She struggled to get up. She took a look at him. Down the side of his face and body was a huge gash with blood gushing out. He fell to the ground. Quistis couldn't help falling down either. They both lay there, finished. The Iron Giant picked the two of them up and carried them to its Master's lair.

Switch back to Rinoa…

Rinoa opened the book to the first page and found a mysterious blood-red ruby pendant with something that looked like a reptile's tail. She took it and clipped it on her neck. She found a strange power surging through her. She ignored it for a moment.

Rinoa flipped through the pages looking for something that would help them. She stopped at one page and began reading aloud:

"Our investigators have heard reports of a mysterious dragon beneath the surface of the lands of Esthar…."

She flipped to a different page:

"It is rumored that the dragon is directly under where the Sorceress Memorial stands today…."

She continued on:

"The believed incantation for summoning the dragon is: "O Dragon hear my cry, crush these pathetic insects using thy sorceress powers and by merging with me….""

Rinoa never got to the next part, as the room filled with the red glow of the pendant on her neck. She made a spine-tingling scream.


	5. The Chamber

Recap of the Story: The gang has been sent on a mission by Laguna to solve the mysterious monster uprising on the Plains of Esthar. Quistis is still trying to win Squall's heart, but Rinoa's filling her heart at the moment. Via Ragnarok, they fly to Esthar. First off, Irvine tries to win back Selphie's damaged heart by taking her shopping. Zell and Quistis go off to fight a few monsters, and Squall and Rinoa help out Zell and Quistis when they wake up. Squall gets a disturbing phone call saying the monsters are running all over the city of Esthar. Rinoa teleports Squall, Quistis, Zell, and herself back to Esthar. The gang meets up and split into groups. Rinoa teleports to Odine's Laboratory to defend Odine. Squall dashes to Laguna's Office. Selphie and Irvine head to defend the Air Station. And Zell and Quistis hang back to defend the Shopping Area. Zell and Quistis do an excellent job of defending the Shopping Area, but they fatigue and they get captured by an enormous Iron Giant. Selphie and Irvine also do well, but as a result of trying to show off his gun skills, Irvine lands on his head and knocks himself unconscious, or is he dead? Selphie takes him back to the Ragnarok. Rinoa clears out the Laboratory and discovers a strange book Odine was reading. Squall finds his father and just gets into a fight with him, not hearing Rinoa's scream from the Laboratory. Let's see what Squall's up to now.

"For the last time Squall it's SCONES!" bellowed Laguna, pissed off that Squall couldn't realize the word 'scone' was pronounced the way it was spelt. The boys couldn't stop arguing. As soon as one argument finished, another one erupted instantly.

"What the hell have you been trippin' on? It's pronounced SKONS!" Squall fired back.

"Shut up! I have more experience in the world than you do!"

"Are you joking? You screwed up with Julia. You're hated by the shopkeeper in Winhill, and you got Ward and Kiros in loads of shit! I have more experienced experience than you!"

Kiros took this time to step in and roared. "Everyone be quiet!" They all became quiet. "Can you hear anything from the outside?"

Laguna scratched his head and paused a moment before saying, "There's no sound. It's all quiet outside"

Squall wasn't surprised, "This probably means we killed all the monsters in the city."

"Yes but," Kiros said quietly "if that were the case, we'd hear the telepods and trains and people bustling about."

Squall's still wasn't surprised; he said, "I'll contact the Ragnarok." He flipped open his cell phone and dialed the Ragnarok's control desk.

"Hello?" said the still sobbing voice of Selphie.

"Selphie? Is that you? How are you and Irvine doing?"

"We're doing…..We're…doing…." she sobbed, "Irvine still hasn't woken up yet! But he's still breathing thankfully!" But she still cried. Squall figured he should leave her alone.

"Hang in there Selphie. Anyways, could you get Zell, Rinoa, or Quistis on the phone?"

"They're not here." Selphie sniffed. "Shouldn't they still be in Esthar?"

Squall froze. If everyone had killed all the monsters, then shouldn't they have gone back to the airship? Squall hastily thanked Selphie and hung up. He dialed Zell's cell phone. Four rings and then, "This is Balamb's International Phone Service. Unfortunately, this phone owner is unable to be contacted at the moment. If you would like to leave a message, press 1. If you would like, for a 1000 Gil fee, BLPS will monitor the cell phone and will notify you when the caller is able to be contacted again. If you wish to hear this message again, press 9." Squall hung up, and dialed Rinoa's number. He was in luck this time.

"Hel….Hello?" came the coughing whisper of Rinoa.

"Rinoa? What's wrong! You sound sick!" Squall gasped. What happened to Rinoa?"

"Squall…is…that you? H-help…me…cough I...I'm somewhere underground I think…I don't know how I got here...I just found a book, and read a few lines… and then…." The signal died.

"Rinoa!" Squall quickly re-dialed the number. No luck. Either Rinoa was sent further underground, the battery died, or something just plain weird happened.

Squall had a grim face when he put the phone back in his pocket.

"What's the situation?" Laguna inquired. "I got my contact lens, I can see now."

"They're...gone somewhere. Zell, Quistis….and Rinoa!" Squall sobbed. "I've got to find them!"

"I'll help too." Laguna offered.

"No. This is none of your business."

"Shut up. It's my business now. It was my business ever since you came here."

"But how will we know where Quistis and Zell were taken?" Looking out the window, Squall's mouth opened when he saw a lone Iron Giant heading out of the city, and behind it was a whole line of Iron Giants. Where could they be headed?

"I've got a plan." Squall smiled. "We're going to follow those Iron Giants quietly and see where they take us."

"Sounds like a plan to me. Kiros! Ward! Your jobs are to protect this office! Don't let them touch my lava lamps! Smack the living shit out of anything that _breathes_ on my lava lamps!" Laguna turned and hugged one of his lava lamps.

"………" Was all Ward said.

"He's saying Roger that!" Kiros translated.

"Alright, then we're off! Dad, make sure to junction yourself with one of my GF's. You don't want to be a flimsy French fry out there!" Squall sneered.

"I know my stuff don't worry!" Laguna smiled.

The two strode out of the Office. Now that they were closer, they could see that the Iron Giants were headed towards the Sorceress Memorial. Why would they go there? There's been no need for it since we defeated Adel. Though Squall. As they neared the Memorial. The Iron Giants were descending through a trap door just on the outskirts of the Memorial. One by One the Iron Giants went in, and before the last one could close the trap door, Squall and Laguna slipped in from the sides.

It was a dark and narrow path, but Squall could tell they were descending underground. He kept his hand on the stone wall to make sure they were only going straight. The only light came from the few torches on the walls. They didn't dare take a torch fearing that the Iron Giant in front of them would notice. They didn't want to fight in this cramped space if they had the power to do so. Laguna heard a growl from somewhere.

"What do you think that growling sound is Squall?" Laguna asked, but Squall was too focused to really pay attention to what he was saying.

"Must be your stomach." Was his reply.

"Whatever." The growling sound never came back, so Laguna took no heed of it.

The passage never ended, and the Iron Giants still trudged along. Squall fingers along the wall felt wood instead of stone. He stopped, and Laguna bumped into him. After cursing at each other a few times, Squall managed to explain, "There's a door here. Feel it." Laguna acknowledged the door and nodded in the darkness.

"Shall we?" He smiled.

"You do the honors."

After making sure the Iron Giants were out of earshot, Laguna raised his right leg, and then…

"ARGH! CRAP I GOT A CRAMP!" Laguna hobbled around for a few minutes. When his cramp was over, he raised his right leg and kicked the door down. It made a very loud smashing sound. Squall was alarmed at the sound and got his gunblade ready. Thankfully, nothing came their way.

"Watch it next time!" Squall snapped at Laguna. Laguna responded with the peace-sign. Squall sighed, "Let's go." The found another narrow passageway descending down, but this time there were torches everywhere, so they sprinted to the bottom, where there was another door. This time, it wasn't locked for some reason. Inside the chamber was pitch black as the door slammed behind the two as they came in. Now they know why it was locked. One reason was so that anyone entering would find it hard to exit. The other reason they were going to find out. They held hands and walked around slowly. Something Laguna stepped on snapped, and they both froze, ready for anything. They heard a female voice.

"Who….who's there?"

A male voice said, "H-hel….Hello?"

Those voices sound familiar, though Squall and Laguna at the same time. Squall flashed his glowing Lionheart gunblade and illuminated the room. It was a grotesque sight. Rotting organs of all sorts lined the sides of the chambers. There were skulls stringed together and they piled up, thousands of them. Also in the distant corner were two very darkened dirtied bodies. If you didn't look close, it'd look like two corpses chained up. But Squall had been with these two bodies for awhile. He gasped as he saw the nearly dead bodies of Zell and Quistis chained up to the wall.


	6. The Monster

Squall took a second to gasp at their nearly dead bodies before ordering Laguna to help unchain them. Laguna took careful aim with his gun, and with one swift bullet, he broke the chain tying Quistis' arms to the walls. He did the same for her legs. He repeated his actions for Zell. "Good job dad." Congratulated Squall as Quistis fell into his arms, and Laguna caught Zell.

"Squ…Squall…! I knew you'd come…you wouldn't leave me would you..?" Quistis barely managed to whisper.

Squall gave the two some a couple of elixirs and they magically became better. "OH YEAH! Time to go kick some ass!" Zell announced as he punched the air. "My gloves and I are ready commander Squall!"

Quistis also stood up, posing seductively, 'I'm ready too!" She high-fived the boys. Laguna blushed a bit, but straightened up as he remembered he already married once.

The group of four continued on through the other door in the prison. Squall had his Lionheart Gunblade ready for anything that happened. As they trudged along another descending staircase, all they could hear was Zell kissing his gloves. He needs to get another girlfriend, thought Squall. As they came to yet another door, Squall prepared to kick it down, Laguna stopped him. "Can't you hear the growling sound? He warned.

Squall stood there and listened carefully. He did hear _some _sort of growling sound. "Hmm, let me think about this." Zell wasn't pleased with this action.

"Why wait?" He demanded, "Let's just go in and kick some ass! My gloves are ready." He caressed his gloves.

"Zell shut up and let Squall think. This isn't the time for any of your nonsense. We need to think of a plan because just about anything could be in there" Quistis snapped. Squall thanked her in his head. This was one of the reasons he loved Quistis. She knew when to speak, when to be quiet, and was generally a good person to have around. He wished Rinoa wasn't so competitive; things would be so much easier. If they could all just get along, then they could-

"Squall, are you even thinking about the plan?" Zell was getting impatient.

"Umm, duh, what else would I be thinking? It's none of your business anyway." Squall lied and he started to actually think about the plan. Within two seconds he had a plan.

"Alright here's the plan." He began, "I'm going to go in first. Since anything could be in there, I don't want any of you involved. I'll fight whatever beast that's in there. I want you guys to guard this door in case anything comes behind us."

"Hell no! You're in over your head Squall, we should come too!" Laguna argued.

"No! If I call for help, you can come, but if I don't say anything, you guys stay put out here!" And with that, Squall cast Haste on himself, smashed the door, and entered the next chamber.

"That stupid idiot." Zell pointed out, and he went in too.

"Laguna, we'll take care of Squall, you stay put here okay?" Quistis didn't wait for a response and entered the chamber.

"Dammit! I want some action too!" Laguna loaded up his gun and stood facing the way they had come. "Bring it on bastards." He smiled.

As soon as Squall entered the chamber, he was immediately swarmed by a horde of monsters. He swung his gunblade at some and they died, but more monsters took their place. Squall panicked, he wouldn't be able to kill them all by himself. He got knocked to the ground. He was about to let out a cry for help, but he didn't need to as he heard a voice yell, "Burning Rave!" An earthquake sent all the monsters flying. Behind him stood Zell with a grin that reached his eyes. Quistis walked beside him and gave him her hand. He eagerly took it.

"Thanks Instructor."

"Don't mention it." Quistis smiled sweetly. The moment didn't last very long though, as a dragon burst through the walls of the chamber and roared.

The blue-scaled dragon stood a towering ten feet high, with 6 inch long claws and talons and yellow eyes. It had rows of sharp teeth ready to shred anything that came along its path. Surprisingly though, the monstrous dragon had no wings. Making it look less sinister. It made up for it though with its deafening roar.

Squall, Quistis and Zell jumped back and unleashed their attacks. Zell ran up to it and gave it some punches, Quistis repeatedly fired her Laser Cannon magic attack, and Squall jumped up high to charge up his Fated Circle limit break. The dragon roared, and with one fell swoop, knocked Zell and Quistis to the ground unconscious. Blood splattered everywhere Squall released his wave of energy. The dragon only flinched a bit. Squall rushed to his companions, elixirs ready, but he didn't have enough time as the dragon swung its claw again, blood splattered from Zell and Quistis' bodies again as Squall stop, dropped, and rolled out of the way.

Squall rushed the monster, and with his Haste spell still in effect, swung his gunblade in a gigantic arc at the dragon, which let out another deafening roar as a huge wound had opened up on its front left claw. Squall ducked and barely managed to escape another attack from the dragon. He ran around the dragon, slashing at everything. He ran to the back of the dragon, but the dragon swung its tail, and knocked the air out of Squall as the tail collided with his chest. Squall fell to the ground, and coughed up some blood. He slowly stood up, panting, and cast a Curaga spell on himself. He ran up to the beast, dragging his gunblade on the ground, jumped up and gave an upward slash. He called this move the Rough Divide. The dragon roared and fell on its back. Squall jumped onto its chest and while running on it, dug his gunblade into its stomach all the up to its neck before jumping off. Blood sprayed onto Squall's shirt.

The dragon rolled itself over and this time instead of roaring, it just stood there, staring Squall down with its yellow eyes. Something was happening to the dragon. White wings protruded from its back, its claws shrunk back two inches, its talons shrunk back into normal…human nails? The dragon itself was shrinking in size. Long black hair sprouted from the back of its head. Its sharp teeth shrunk back down. When the transformation, Squall gasped as he saw a very bloody Rinoa fall to the ground. But it didn't really look like Rinoa. She was stark naked and it looked like she had many blue scales on her body. Did the dragon do something to Rinoa? Thought Squall. He rushed to her side and caught her in his arms before she fell to the ground. He held her there for a minute before she finally opened her eyes, but these eyes weren't the dark brown eyes of Rinoa. They were the feral yellow eyes of the dragon he had just defeated.

Rinoa jumped right out of Squall's arms and started firing Meteor spells at him. Squall dodged all the meteorites. "What are you doing Rinoa? Don't you recognize me?" He yelled over the sound of meteorites falling to the ground.

A voice not Rinoa's answered, "I, the dragon Ruby, have merged with this sorceress' mind. She did it willingly."

"No! I refuse to believe that!" Squall yelled back.

Outside the chamber, Laguna had heard everything, but he was too cramped up to do anything. "Damn leg." He kept saying to himself. He wanted to help out Squall and Rinoa, but he just couldn't. At that moment, his cell phone rang. Since it was an Esthar manufactured phone, it still could receive deep underground. The call was from Kiros.


	7. Trapped

**A/B**

**Just so everyone knows, I own nothing. Please send some reviews in if you're reading this.**

**Also, this chapter takes place while Squall and Laguna are looking for Zell and Quistis.**

Selphie replaced the bandages on Irvine's forehead, where he suffered a blow in an attempt to impress Selphie. He was still breathing, but very slowly. She sighed, why did Irvine have to always do these kinds of things? True, she was mad this morning at him, but one can't stay angry at Irvine for more than an hour. How she wished Dr. Kadowaki was here right now, she'd know how to treat Irvine properly, not like Selphie who just tried to throw a phoenix down on him. She cradled his head and placed it back on his bunk bed.

Her mind raced. In all the time they had been together, Selphie had never even given him a kiss, let alone a peck on the cheek. And soon, she might never get the chance too. Selphie's vision watered up, and she let the tears flow down her face. She buried her face on the side of his jacket, something he insisted never be taken off. She smelled the lavender scented of his cologne that he sprayed on it every morning. Slowly, Selphie moved her face up to the side of his clean shaven face, giving it a smooch. "Irvine…." She continually whispered to herself. Then she proceeded right onto his lips, and she pressed hard, still sobbing that Irvine may slip away from her at any moment.

What's going on in Irvine's mind…

Irvine was running through a seemingly endless black space. He wouldn't stop. He was running away from the white light that was trying to close in on him. It was too early for him. This was not his time to leave the planet, not yet. He had unfinished business in his life, the most important settling down with Selphie. The white light was getting closer. "Get back! Not yet!" he shouted, and he ran even faster. He needed to get back. Squall needed love lessons. Zell needed to learn how to get a girlfriend. Quistis needed to believe in herself. But most of all, he needed Selphie.

"Irvine…." A voice called out.

"What? Who's calling?" Irvine said to no himself, and he kept running. His legs were slowing, and something was preventing him from casting any magic. But as he ran farther, the voice grew stronger. He had a feeling the voice was his way out. He shouted the only thing in his mind.

"Selphie!"

Back to the fresh and flesh tense…

"Selphie!" Irvine shouted. Selphie was sitting on the side of the bed. Her eyes lit up like the stars as his eyes opened.

"Oh man Selphie, I had this insane dream. There was this bright white light that wanted me…" Irvine groaned.

Irvine sat right up, and smashed his head onto the bottom of the other bunk bed on top of him. "OW! FRICKIN' HELL!" His eyes were dazed, and he saw stars. He fell back onto the bed, unconscious, but his breathing regular.

Selphie's face was full of shock, her eyes close to bawling out a lake. "Irvine!" she cried. She shook him gently. Nothing. She got some water and splashed it in his face. Still no result. Then, she slowly tugged at his jacket, beginning to pull it off, when Irvine's eyes shot open. Selphie let go of the jacket and planted her body on top of him.

"Sweetie! Stay down! Don't bump your head again!"

"Someone was pulling at my jacket…" Irvine growled, but then he saw Selphie, and his eyes widened. "Selphie!" He cradled her tight. She held him twice as hard, and they sat on the bed together for the next ten minutes. Words couldn't describe the love they had for each other.

"Irvine, did you really come back because you heard my voice?" Selphie leaned in close to Irvine.

"You bet baby." Irvine snuggled in closer with Selphie. "Say, how are Squall and the others?"

"Not now. We'll check with them later." Selphie squeezed Irvine like a teddy bear. She checked her phone's clock. "Wait…It's been ages since they last called me."

Irvine got up and picked up the phone. He called Squall, Quistis, Rinoa, and then Zell, none of them picking up. He put the phone down and slowly walked back and sat beside Selphie.

"They're still in Esthar killing monsters?"

"I'm not sure, Squall called me earlier asking me about you, but then he didn't say anything about his progress."

"Let's go to the President's Office and find them Sefie." Irvine stood up and gave Selphie his hand.

"Alright."

Together, they exited the Ragnarok and entered Esthar through the air station. What a destruction it was. Walkways were smashed in some areas. Express porters were on the fritz, and there were no technicians nearby. The sky still had a tint of red in it. Buildings were smashed at their sides and some were collapsed. Irvine was astounded.

"All this happened while I was out? Oh no…Selphie, we've got to get to the President's House." Irvine grabbed Selphie's hand and they sprinted to the President's Office. Thankfully, the President's Office was still unharmed. They entered the main door and they found Kiros and Ward armed with their weapons.

"Whoa! Hold it guys! It's us, Irvine and Selphie! Keep those pointy things down!" Selphie said frightened.

"Sorry, Laguna told us to guard his lava lamps from anything that entered through the doors. We didn't know you guys were going to come too." Kiros explained.

"………." Ward made a few hand gestures to Kiros.

"He's asking what you're looking for." Kiros translated.

"We're wondering what's up with Squall, Rinoa, Zell, and Quistis. They've been gone for quite a long time and we're getting worried. They're not picking up their cell phones." Irvine was nervous.

Kiros offered a helping hand and said, "Don't worry; we'll call Laguna for you. He has a special Esthar exclusive phone that can receive phone calls no matter how far, how high, or how low, or how interfered he is." Kiros walked to Laguna's desk and picked his phone. He dialed Laguna's cell phone. He turned on speakerphone so everyone could hear.

Switch to Laguna…

"Allo?"

"Laguna! Where the hell are you?" came Kiros' scratchy voice.

"I dunno man. We're somewhere deep under the Sorceress Memorial. We followed an Iron Giant down this trap down thingy. We found Zell and Quistis, but they're badly injured. We found Rinoa too, but she's got this weird dragon called Ruby controlling her. Get this Kiros." Laguna chuckled. "The dragon is called Ruby, but it has blue scales! What's up with that?"

"There's something wrong with Rinoa?" Selphie gasped. "Irvine let's go!" Selphie and Irvine dashed out of the room back to the Ragnarok with a quick good-bye to Kiros and Ward.

"Har har Laguna. Listen, we're going to send Selphie and Irvine over to pick you guys up, they'll be there within 15 minutes." Kiros replied.

"Good. This dragon controlling Rinoa will be toast by then." Laguna whooped. "Gwah!"

"What's wrong this time Laguna?" Kiros shook his head.

"The floor was shaking, and I hear this rumbling sound. Oh shi-! The place is coming down! Kiros, I'll talk to you laaaaaaater! Laguna hung up.

"……….." Ward made several more hand gestures to Kiros.

"You're right. I'll leave a message on the Ragnarok." Kiros nodded and dialed and left a message for the Ragnarok saying, "Hey Selphie. Hey Irvine. Bring your shovels from the Ragnarok's storage room. You may be doing some digging. Get there ASAP and dig like crazy. They're going to run out of air soon." Kiros sighed, if he were still young, he'd help them too. His wrinkles were showing, and they were pretty big.

What's going on between Squall and Rinoa…

Elsewhere, Squall was facing off Rinoa. But how could he strike Rinoa? Even if it would purge the dragon from her soul, she could by his blade, and he'd never live that down. He had to buy some time.

"So, you say your name is Ruby, and yet you have blue scales?" He nervously asked.

"I'm not one to reveal my true name" replied the Rinoa-warped voice. 'I'll be seeing you again soon, human." Rinoa's yellow eyes changed back to her normal dark brown ones, and she fell to the ground.

"Rinoa!" Squall rushed to her side, dove into the pool of dragon's blood and caught her just before she hit the stone flooring. He brushed her hair aside, and saw the face of the Rinoa he originally knew. He held her close for a few moments. He heard a rumbling sound. He looked up and saw some of the rocks from the ceiling fall down. Just then, a panicked Laguna stormed into the chamber.

"Squall! The whole place is going down! Let's get the hell out of here!" Laguna quickly picked up Zell and swung him over his strong back. Squall ran to Quistis and ran out of the chamber with Laguna. They ran back up the stairs they had come down. They smashed the next door in their way. One more staircase and they'd be at the surface. They kept running at a breakneck speed. They were almost at the trapdoor when they heard another rumble. The whole ceiling fell down, and all the torches around them blew out.

They were caved in with no light, and were running out of oxygen fast.


	8. Desperate

"Aww great!" whined Laguna. "Now we're stuck! Maybe so much time down there was a bad idea."

"We had to find Rinoa and the others, remember old man?" Squall called from the darkness. "I wonder where the torches are…" Squall moved his hands over the wall until he felt the metal casing of one the torches. He lit it with a Fire spell. The passage was now illuminated, and the two could see how much they would have to dig through.

"Guess we'd better start now, and quick." Said Laguna, and the two put down the companions and started digging up.

--

Irvine and Selphie flew to the Sorceress Memorial, shovels ready. When they arrived, there wasn't much to see other than the memorial. Irvine scratched his forehead.

"Where could they be? We can't just start digging anywhere!" Irvine exclaimed. He paced back and forth thinking of how to find Squall and the others. He was lost in his thoughts when he tripped over his own shoe and landed face flat onto the solid hard ground.

"Irvine! Are you alright!?" Selphie ran over to his and shook him awake. He blinked, and his eyes widened.

"That's it! Selphie! This ground here is solid as ever, and we wouldn't be able to dig through it. But say Squall was underground; there would be a cave entrance or something that he would go into right? But if we look around us, it's all generally flat, no entrances or anything. That makes me believe there may be a trapdoor here, and under the trapdoor would be a hollow space! We just have to stomp around here until we hear a hollow sound coming from the ground." Irvine grinned at his discovery.

"Oh, you're so clever, give me a hug!" Selphie gave Irvine a teddy bear hug, and the two set off to find the trapdoor.

Unfortunately, they did not find much luck for the next twenty minutes, and they were getting tired of jumping around everywhere.

"Hmm…Irvine, this isn't worki-"Selphie was cut short. The ground trembled, making her lose her balance, and Irvine's too. About twenty metres ahead of Selphie, she saw the land groan and sink down a couple of decimeters. Irvine ran to the depression and called for Selphie to come too.

"Something's happening here! Let's dig down; Squall might be stuck down there." Irvine started digging, and Selphie soon followed.

--

Squall was getting tired of digging, and Laguna had already given up and was lighting more torches. Squall paused for a bit, gasping for oxygen, which was starting to take a toll in his head. He swaggered a bit, and heard a little scraping coming from the pile of rubble in front of him, or was it coming from beyond the rubble? Maybe someone was helping him on the other side! Squall began to dig to, when his nerves tensed up, and he fell to the floor with Laguna, unable to move, but able to look around still.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rinoa get up, actually, the figure of Rinoa get up. Her arm was covered with blue scales, so she must be possessed by the spirit Ruby, as it went by, again. She raised a clawed hand, and pointed it at the rocks blocking their way. In an instant, they all disappeared, and Rinoa collapsed.


End file.
